Hospital: Deaths 'appear to be unpredictable and unpreventable'

South Shore Hospital has launched an internal review and has notified the state after two women died from complications during childbirth at the hospital in one month, a hospital spokeswoman said Sunday.

Christie Billodeau Fazio, 30, of Marshfield, who worked as a nurse at South Shore Hospital, died Dec. 14 at the hospital while giving birth to a healthy 8-pound, 10-ounce son named Jonathan Lee Fazio.

"South Shore Hospital extends our deepest condolences to the families of our patients, and our focus is on supporting them at this difficult time, as well as supporting our colleagues who are devastated by these losses," the medical center said in a statement.

"Our teams responded to both cases swiftly and aggressively – they did everything possible. It is too early to know the exact nature of the underlying factors that led to these tragic outcomes. All signs suggest that the two situations were unrelated, unanticipated, and unpreventable," the statement continued.

The Enterprise reported that maternal deaths during pregnancy and childbirth are strikingly unusual in the United States. In Massachusetts, on average, five women have died each year during the past 10 years as a result of childbirth-related circumstances, according to statistics from two state agencies.

There were three such deaths in 2011 and three in 2012, according to statistics kept by the state Board of Registration in Medicine.

Nationwide, there are about 650 maternal deaths each year during pregnancy and delivery, according to the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That number has been creeping up year after year, and now is double what it was 25 years ago. Better reporting of maternal deaths and environmental factors have been cited as reason for that upward drift.

The maternity staff at the South Shore Hospital in Weymouth hospital, which sees an average of 3,500 births each year, “has been understandably devastated,” Darcy said of the deaths of the two mothers there.

Celia’s father, Raymond Romero of Easton, said his daughter went to South Shore Hospital on Wednesday for a planned Caesarean-section delivery, and died from complications during the procedure.

The C-section, which was Celia’s first after having delivered her first three children vaginally, was planned because doctors had deemed her latest pregnancy to be high-risk, he said.

Doctors told Celia’s family that she had an amniotic fluid embolism, but the family is awaiting autopsy results for the exact cause of death, Romero said.

An embolish is a blockage in the bloodstream. An amniotic fluid embolism is a rare but serious condition that occurs when amniotic fluid – the fluid that surrounds a baby in the uterus during pregnancy – or fetal material, such as hair, enters the maternal bloodstream, according to the Mayo Clinic website.

Such an embolism is most likely to occur during childbirth or immediately afterward.

Celia is survived by her husband, Paul, and her three other children, ages 14, 9 and 6.

Celia’s family and friends gathered for a memorial service in New Hope Christian Chapel in Easton on Saturday afternoon.

Celia is being remembered as a vibrant young mother who lived for her children, her father said. She loved music, amateur photography and reading and writing poetry.

“She had a real vibrancy about her, with how she lived her life, trying to find the joy and opportunities and possibilities that life had to offer her and her family,” Romero, 53, said. “She was always looking toward the future, and her children’s future.”

Celia, who attended Easton schools and held an associate’s degree from Massasoit Community College, worked as a patient service coordinator for Vanguard Medical in Braintree. She also had worked as a personal trainer for Boston Sports Club.

Donations in Celia’s memory may be sent to the Colleen A. Romero-Celia Memorial Fund, c/o Bank of Easton, 275 Washington St., Easton, MA 02356 or made online

It was unclear Sunday whether Fazio, the Marshfield woman who died Dec. 14, had undergone a Caesarean or vaginal birth.

Her cousin, Jennifer Billodeau, said last month that Fazio, 30, was able to briefly hold her newborn son before the hospital staff discovered she was bleeding after giving birth and then tried everything to save her.

A GoFundMe.com drive set up by Billodeau has raised more than $61,000 for the Fazio family. Donations can be made online at GoFundMe.com/Fazio-Family-Fund.

South Shore Hospital has been “very forthcoming and open” with his family about his daughter’s death, Romero said.

“It’s a tragic event for everyone involved,” he said. “We obviously want all of the information and the facts as to what’s occurred.”

HEALTH LOOKING INTO TWO CHILD BIRTH DEATHS AT SOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL IN JUST THE LAST MONTH. ON AVERAGE, THERE ARE FIVE SUCH DEATHS IN THE STATE IN AN ENTIRE YEAR. NEW AT 6:00 TONIGHT WE ARE LEARNING MORE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO BOTH MOTHERS. GET TO KIMBERLY BOOKMAN LIVE IN WEYMOUTH RIGHT NOW. KIMBERLY? I TALKED TO THE HUSBANDS AND THEY ARE STILL IN DISBELIEF TONIGHT. THEY LEFT THE HOSPITALS WITH BABIES BUT NOT THEIR WIVES. TWO WOMEN WORE BEAUTIFUL WHITE WEDDING DRESSES, STARTING THEIR HAPPILY IN EVER AFTERS. ON THE WAY TO LIVING OUT THEIR FAIRY TALES EACH BECAME PREGNANT AND DIED IN CHILD BIRTH. AND DECEMBER 14, A HEALTHY 30-YEAR-OLD HAD A C-SECTION AT SOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL, THE VERY PLACE WHERE SHE WORKED AT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. SHE DELIVERED A BABY BOY THAT SHE WOULDN'T LIVE TO SEE GROW UP. A MONTH LATER ON JANUARY 15, 32 COLLEEN OF MIDDLEBOROUGH WENT TO SOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL FOR A C-SECTION. SHE SUFFERED AN AMNIOTIC FLUID EMBOLISM. THE SOUTH SHORE HOSPITAL SAYS THE TEAMS RESPONDED TO BOTH CASES QUICKLY AND AGGRESSIVELY AND DID EVERYTHING POSSIBLE. ALL SIGNS SUGGEST THAT THE TWO SITUATIONS WERE UNRELATED, UNANTICIPATED AND UNPREVENTABLE. THE HOSPITAL WHICH TOUTS ON ITS WEBSITE THAT IT DELIVERS 3,500 BABIES EVERY YEAR, MORE THAN ANY OTHER HOSPITAL IN THE REGION SAYS IT IS DEVASTATED BY THE LOSSES. NOT FAMILIES, THE LOSSES TOO NEW TO UNDERSTAND, TO GREAT TO TALK ABOUT, TOO OVERWHELMING TO ACCEPT. AND BACK OUT HERE LIVE NOW. I CAN TELL YOU THE HOSPITAL SAYS THEY ARE DOING AN INTERNAL REVIEW. IN THE MEANTIME, BOTH FAMILIES HAVE STARTED UP THE GO FUND ME